SCG
The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney. It is used for Test cricket, One Day International cricket, Twenty20 cricket and Australian rules football, as well some rugby league football and rugby union matches. In the AFL, its only tenants are the Sydney Swans. History By the time of the first Sydney cricket test in February 1882, the ground could boast two grandstands; the Brewongle Stand at the southern end and the original Members' Stand, which had been built in 1878 in the north west corner where the current Members' Stand now sits. On opposite sides of the ground to the stands two spectator mounds were built. They became known as The Hill and the Paddington Hill. In 1886, the Members' Pavilion was rebuilt at a cost of £6625. Membership was levied at two guineas. In 1894 the ground finally received its modern name, the Sydney Cricket Ground, which was followed by the opening of the Hill Stand, situated between The Hill and the Paddington Hill. It became known as the Bob Stand during the Depression years because it cost one shilling (a bob) to enter. During the 1920s and 1930s crowds packed into the SCG to see Don Bradman play for New South Wales and Australia. Many of the huge gate takings that Bradman brought in for the NSWCA were spent on developing the ground. A large new stand was built at the northern end in two stages. It replaced the Northern Stand and was intended to also replace the Members' and Ladies' Stands. The first stage, begun while Bradman was still playing for New South Wales, was opened in 1936 at a cost of £90,000 and named the ‘M.A. Noble Stand' after the great Australian captain Monty Noble. The second stage, completed in 1973 at a cost of $2 million, was named the Bradman Stand after the great man himself. Further redevelopment of the ground began in 1978 with the advent of World Series Cricket and games played at night. Further developments have taken place in more recent years with the internal reconstruction of the M.A. Noble stand completed in 1994 and the opening of the NSW Cricket Centre in 1997. This facility includes indoor training wickets and administrative offices for Cricket NSW (formerly NSW Cricket Association). In 1999 the original electronic scoreboard was replaced by a new higher-definition video screen. In the 21st Century the Hill has been completely redeveloped with a new 12,000 seat Victor Trumper Stand, completed in 2008. This stand brings the SCG's capacity to 46,000 spectators. The SCG Trust has announced the MA Noble, Bradman and Dally Messenger Stands will be demolished and rebuilt before the 2015 Cricket World Cup, it will increase ground capacity to 48,000 spectators. Finally after the 2015 Cricket World Cup, the Trust is keen to redevelop the Bill O'Reilly stand, further increasing the grounds capacity. The ground will be a near complete modern "bowl" stadium with the exception of the two heritage listed Members and Ladies stands. Aussie Rules at the SCG The first Australian rules football match to played at the SCG was Inter-Colonial football match played between Victoria and New South Wales on 6 August 1881. Essendon and Melbourne played a premiership match at Moore Park in 1904 in front of the Governor General and Governor of NSW. Melbourne won and both teams had to return home by boat down the coast; two other matches (Fitzroy v Collingwood and Geelong v Carlton, which had been postponed) were also played there in 1903. In the subsequent decades, the ground was rarely used for Australian Rules, except for the occasional exhibition match or interstate football carnival. Richmond played Collingwood there in 1952, and eight VFL matches were played there in 1979–1981, but Australian rules football was not to make a regular comeback to the SCG until 1982, when South Melbourne relocated to Sydney and made the SCG its home ground. The SCG most notably hosted Sydney's preliminary final against Essendon in 1996, in which full forward Tony Lockett scored a behind after the final siren to give Sydney a one-point win, sending the Swans into their first Grand Final since 1945. Since 2003, most Sydney Swans home finals have beem played at the larger ANZ Stadium unless it is otherwise booked. On 30 August 1997, the largest ever crowd to watch an Australian Rules game at the SCG, 46,168, came to see the Swans play Geelong. In 1999, the SCG witnessed its only modern-day pitch invasion when Tony Lockett kicked his 1300th career goal to become the highest goalkicker in VFL/AFL history. The SCG is the shortest field that is used for AFL games, at 153 metres long, but Geelong's Kardinia Park is narrower. The Saints at the SCG The Saints have had mixed to negative results at the SCG. From 27 matches, they have won just the 10, but on 12 occasions they have kicked 100+ points. Category:Grounds